How to Do Reverse Video Search Step by Step – 3 Methods

Reverse Video Search
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After watching a captivating video on a site, do you want to know more about the video creator and watch more videos created by him/her? If your answer is yes, you have come to the right place, because you can learn how to reverse search videos and find the top 3 reverse video search engines in this article. Do you want to add a professional touch to your videos and then share them with others or publish them online? You can try the free video editing software on Windows – MiniTool MovieMaker.

Part 1.  Some Background Information about Reverse Video Search

Reverse video search refers to a process by which a search engine uses the colors/pixels/styles present in a video to find out the locations where an exact copy of the video appears on the web. Simply put, the process of reverse video search is somewhat similar to that of reverse image search and reverse GIF search.

You may want to reverse search videos in many situations. Imagine that you have filmed many short videos when hiking in Yosemite, but you’re missing 2 minutes of usable footage.  By performing a reverse video search on your computer, you could find many other similar video clips matching the characteristics of the national park, waterfall, wilder flowers, massive rocks, stone staircases, lakes, and so on. Reverse research is practical for video editors to find more usable clips that can be added to their footage. Companies and agencies can check if anyone else has re-posted your videos on the Internet without your consent.

Part 2. How to Do Reverse Video Search Step by Step?

The mainstream keyword search is much based on descriptive text/keywords to identify and match content on the Internet. Is it possible to find the video source if your video is not tagged? No search engine can handle the video reverse search queries with 100% accuracy. But we have an alternative solution – reverse image search. 

It is not difficult, we can take a clear screenshot (also known as a screen capture) from the video and perform a reverse image search on it.  Then the search engines will automatically identify the exact video from which the screenshot was taken, and return some results. The video results largely depend on what visual search technology as well as the image matching techniques each search engine is using. 

You can try the following 3 methods to reverse search a video step by step.

#1. How to Reverse Video Search with Google Image

Strictly speaking, Google is not providing the service of reverse video search. But, you can try the full-blown Google Images search engine to search videos using images. The best superiority is that Google Images has no restrictions for the file upload size and image type.  

To take a snapshot of the video, you can use either the screenshot utility Windows Snipper Tool or other third-party screenshot software like TechSmith Capture, Screenshot Touch, etc. Follow this tutorial to reverse video search in Google Image, you are very likely to find the target video.

Step 1. Play the video in your multimedia player, take a clear screenshot, and then save that screenshot image to your desktop. To get the most accurate possible search results, please ensure the video frame is clear.

Step 2. Visit Google Images, click the gray camera icon (see picture below), you can see a dialogue that asks you to upload images.

Reverse Video Search

Step 3. Hit on the Upload an image tab and then click “Choose File” to upload the screenshot that was stored on your computer just now.

Upload an image

Step 4. Google begins to analyze your video screenshot and display the matching results. Wait for a while for the results to display, then click More > Videos to check the video results and find the source of the video.

#2. How to Reverse Video Search with Shutterstock

Shutterstock website users have contributed millions of royalty-free photos and videos for other content creators to download. Unlike other search engine services, Shutterstock has a section that is designed specifically for everyone to reverse search videos using JPG or PNG images. But the image size should be under 5MB. Prepare a clear screenshot of your video, now you can reverse video search using Shutterstock.

Step 1. Open www.shutterstock.com in your web browser. 

Step 2. You will see the footage section very soon,  click the FOOTAGE option in the top menu bar  (see the following image).

Reverse Video Search

Step 3. Click “Search by image”, then drag and drop your video screenshot onto the upload area. Alternatively, you can add the screenshot by clicking on “Or, upload”.

Step 4. Wait patiently, soon Shutterstock will display all stock videos that match the characteristics of your video.

#3. How to Reverse Video Search with Berify

Berify is a professional reverse video search engine that can search up to 800 million images along with image data from Google, DuckDuckGo, YouTube, Yandex, Bing, etc. You are required to sign up on the website and upload the image from the computer or mobile phone. There are 3 membership plans for different users’ needs. Using the free plan, you can perform  5 reverse searches maximally to find out where your images are being used on the web. 

After getting a snapshot of your video, you can follow these steps to reverse video search using Berify.

Step 1. Open the Berify site( www.berify.com ) in your web browser.

Step 2. Click SIGN UP FOR FREE on the top of the screen, then subscribe to a membership plan by filling in your information.

Reverse Video Search

Step 3. Log in to your account, and upload your video screenshot from your computer or mobile phone to the search field.

Step 4. Wait till the search process of similarity matches is done. Finally, you can check the results that match your uploaded video screenshot.

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